Monday, September 29, 2008

Although I qualified to do Column 2 pushups for Week 6, I decided to step down a level for Week 6. Todays total pushup count is 130, and I have already done 130 pushups before, So todays workouts should be pretty easy... well that's what I thought. Today's workout was surprisingly challenging. I managed to do only a total of 116.

I was required to do 25,30,20,15 , Max(40)

I managed to do 25,30,20,15,26

I did todays workout in my living loom on the hardwood floor, which turned out to be more difficult than the pushups that I do in my basement, which is on a thin layer of carpet.

The First set of 25 was fairly easy but more difficult than my usual first set. In the second set, I started to struggle after 15th pushup, then I did them 5 at a time and pausing between each set of 5 untill I hit 30. The next sets of 20 and 15 were also not that hard, but I had to push bit harder than usual. Before the final set I waited a full 2 minutes and started doing the pushups and my arms began to shiver after about 15 pushups, from that point onwards it was one at a time untill the 26th pushup.

For the reminder of the program, I will be doing the pushups in the basement and will probably do the final test on both the carpeted and wooden surface.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

I started the exhaustion test with the intention of atleast 54 pushups, I was aiming for 20% improvement from the time I did 45 pushups on the last set of W5D3. I did the first 37 pushups without stopping, then paused for a few seconds, then did two sets of 3 untill 43, then another set of 2 untill 45, At this point I was begining to get nervous, thinking I may not even get to 50. Then I pushed one by one untill 50 and then I had to do atleast one more to make it 50+. After pushing down, I had to use every last bit strength to push up again to complete 51 pushups.

Although I am a bit dissapointed that I had to really struggle to get to 51 pushups, truth is that I am sort of tired of doing Week 5 for the last one month. So I will be starting Week 6 on monday.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

I skipped a day due to splitting headache and started to do the pushups in the morning, after about the first four sets, My son woke up and that put an end to my pushups. Then I did the pushups again in the evening.

In W5D2 I had done a total of 130 pushups including 38 in the final set. IN W5D3, the required pushups is only 107, which means I will have to do 53 pushups just to keep up with the total number from W5D2. That I was sure was going to be very difficult, but I was going to give a try anyway.

I was required to do 12,12,12,12,10,10,9, Max(At least 30)

I managed to do 12,12,12,12,10,10,9,45

Eventhough I fell short of achiving, what I wanted to in the last set, I am still happy with the result, I managed to do 7 more pushups in the lastset than my previous set. Morever, I did more pushups in the last set than what I did for the exhaustive test.

When I began this week, I had decided, that I was going to repeat this week untill I did 40 pushups on all the last sets for this week and also I will have to do 50+ pushups in the exhaustion test. I did 40+ pushups on the last set only in one day out of three. If I am able to do 50+ pushups in the exhaustion test, Iwill move on to W6 or else I will be repeating W5.

Monday, September 22, 2008

I slacked off for a day, I was supposed to do W5D2 yesterday. This is nothing new, I tend to slack off after accomplishing something significant. For me successfully completing W5D1 was big deal.

I was required to do 15,15,14,14,12,12,10, Max (atleast 30).

I managed to do 15,15,14,14,12,12,10,38 .

I started todays pushup with the goal of beating previous days record of 128 pushups. I did total of 130 pushups, 2 more than W5D1.. I am happy with the result. The first seven sets were effortless, In most of the sets I took less than 45 seconds of rest. However before the final set, I took full 2 minutes of rest, That really helped in doing 38 pushups in the last set. My hands started shaking after 33 pushups. From that point on it was one at a time till the 38th pushup.

Friday, September 19, 2008

After speaking to a co-worker who finished Week 6 today , I decided to increase my rest period between sets. The first four sets i did not rest any more than usual 60 seconds,but before the final set i took full 2 minutes or more rest, and that made all the difference.

Today on my sixth attempt, I managed to do W5D1 successfully.

I was required to do 30,24,22,20 Max (atleast 30)

I did without too much fuss 30,24,22,20,32

Although it takes away a major mental block for me, I am not not moving on to week six without atleast being able to do 50+ pushups in the exhaustion test.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I had a pretty good workout before doing the exhaustion test, I helped out my in-laws to move some furniture down from the second floor of their home and move boxes of hard wood up stairs. I was bit tired by the time i got home, But decided to do the test any way.

I did a total of 43 pushups, 3 more than last time. I did the first 30 without a break, which is a record, then did the next 7 and then did one by one untill 43. I am pretty happy with the results, Look forward to repeating W5D1 again on fridsl

Monday, September 15, 2008

This is a good workout and I am sweating like a pig. I did a total of 108 pushups , 6 more than W5D2. I am going to keep trying to improve the pushup count every day and eventually get to 136 pushups.

The first 7 sets were not that challenging, and the last set was not too hard untill 20th pushup, After that it was one pushup at a time untill pushup number 31.

Couple of things I noticed...Although my natual pose is to keep the head down, it helps to raise my chin up while doing the pushups, it becomes a bit easier, especially towards the end when I want to squeeze in an additional pushup or two. The only problem with doing so, it that it strains my neck and cannot do it for long.

Another thing that I find useful, is when I get really tired, closing my eyes also helps a little bit, but not for long.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

I am dissapointed that I did not even manage 30 on the last set. The only positive thing that comes out of this, is that I did two pushups more than previous day.

I made two mistakes, first... I should have done the pushup in the morning, instead of afternoon and not long after my lunch. Second reason... I gave up at 20 pushups on the last set, I could have done few more. Unfortunately I realise that only after stopping the [ushups.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

My goal for week5 is to be able to do atleast 40 pushups on the last set for each day. I am not advancing to week6 even if I manage the minimum number of pushups (30) on the last set for Week5. The more I sweat it out in Week5, Week6 will be that much easier. At this point I can do 40 pushups at a time, I can advance to Week6 if I am able to do atleast 45. Another goal is to be ale to do atleast 50 pushups before moving onto week6.

So I was required to do 30,24,22,20,Max(Atleast 30)

What I was able to do 30,24,12,14,20

First Set was very easy, almost effortless, Pushups began to get harder towards the middle of second set, I managed to finish second set, by doing one pushup at a time. In the the third and fourth set I did what ever I could do, I could have done more in those sets, but decided to save some energy for the last set. Finally in the last set, pushed thru untill I collapsed.

I managed to stay within the time limits for the resting period between sets. I was surprised how quickly 60 seconds pass by when my arms were tired especially after second set.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Although I am not supposed to do an exhaustion test till i finish Week 5, But I had to do it, Was curious to know if my strength improved and how much many pushups I could do from the last exhaustion test.

But at the same time, I was also secretly hoping that I would be able to do more than 45 pushups , the minimum required to move on to Week 6. Well... I managed 40 pushups, 5 more than the previous attempt. Not too long ago, I collapsed after 8 pushups. I am happy and excited to continue Week5 starting tommorow.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Skipped a day due to splitting headache around the time to do pushups. Todays workout was supposed to be a slam dunk, based of previous workouts. W5D3 has less pushups than W5D2, So I decided that I was going to aim for 40 pushups in the last set instead of the minimum 30. The First Seven Sets were effortless. In the Final Set, aiming for 40, I started to struggle around 22, and then to my surprise pushups become quite difficult to pull thru. I barely managed to do 31, one more than the minimum required. I was quite dissapointed because previous days last set was not this hard.

As I got up from the floor after the last set of pushups, it immediatly became clear, why I was having a hard time. My left arm was way more fatigued than my right arm. I was putting more weight on my left arm. I just did not realize this when I was doing the pushups. This has happened a few times when I started out this program. Normally the days I have a good workout are the days when bot my arms are equally tired. I will keep this in mind when I repeat week 5 starting wednesday.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Since I could not complete, W5D1 after four attempts, I decided to move onto W5D2 and repeat this week untill I get all the pushups required. Todays workout was fairly easy and I was able to do the last set pretty easily.

I was required to do 15,15,14,14,12,12,10,Max(30)

I was able to do 15,15,14,14,12,12,10 , 29.5As I was about to finish the last pushup of the last set, My Kiddo who was hovering around decides to poke his head and body right between my arms and below my head :). He has a tendecy to do this whenever i do pushups, either come between my hands or jump on my back. Anyways I am going to consider this a full workout.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Well... I was not feeling very good about the previous days pushups. Although I came close to finishing up all the sets, it did not feel right. I took lot of extra rest between sets..up to 2 minutes and more. There were other interruptions as well.

So today i got up at 4:00 Am, decided not to take any more than 60 seconds of rest between sets. I would also try to do as many pushups as possible without stopping for rest.Here is what happened.

I was required to do 30,24,22,20,Max(atleast 30)

I was able to do 30,13,12,12,15

Truly spectacular failure. Although I am very frustrated at my performance, it's good to face reality. The reality is that i am still far away from being able to do 100 pushups. The total number of pushups today is in line with W4D3. The other pushups that I did on Week 5 involved plenty of rest and some of them involved using up every ounce of strength.

Going forward, I am thinking of making a slight change, instead of continuing on W5D1, I am going to try W5D2 and W5D3 and then repeat Week 5 again untill I am able to do them right. This will help me in the long run to get to 100 pushups.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Failed again to finish up all the sets. The reality is that I just gave up in the last set.

I was required to do 30,24,22,20, Max(atleast 30)

I was able to do 30,24,22,20, 20

For some reason todays workout was really difficult compared to the same workout from couple of days ago. I had to increase my resting period to atleast 120 seconds in the 3,4 and 5th sets to keep me going. Before I was about to do the fifth set, there were couple if interuptions, such as Phone rang, Wife came over to talk about something. Due to the additional rest before the 5th set, the pushups in the 5th set were not as streanous as usual. I could have easily finished the 5th set, So I decided to stop at 20 and retry W5D1 again on Wednesday.